WaPo: Energy industry ready for climate change legislation

Man, we've been focusing on all the wrong things. In our attempt to figure out how the political shift in Washington, D.C. earlier this month will affect the green car industry, we stupidly paid attention to the politicians. (slaps forehead) The Washington Post does the right thing and discovered what the real power brokers in D.C. – the corporations and the lobbyists – think of the new landscape. The short version: climate change is real, and we are going to do something about it. For those of use ready to drive all-electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles soon, this is good news (or, at least, good PR).

The article was written by WaPo writers Steven Mufson and Juliet Eilperin and their lede says it all (which, come to think of it, is what a good lede should do): "While the political debate over global warming continues, top executives at many of the nation's largest energy companies have accepted the scientific consensus about climate change and see federal regulation to cut greenhouse gas emissions as inevitable."

Mufson and Eilperin found companies are already hiring new lobbyists to influence policy, and many support a national system that caps emissions and allows companies to trade quotas. Another possibility is a national carbon tax, like the one under consideration in New Zealand. Whatever the end result, many companies favor a national plan rather than state or regional laws. Actual change might not happen until the denier-in-chief leaves office in two years, but the market is sensing the change and is looking to get ahead of the curve.